United Kingdom’s Ashley Mason will have a big target on his back when the Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) Main Event resumes play Monday at the Crown Poker Room in Melbourne, Australia. The British online poker pro will try to protect his stack against a New Zealander and seven Australians and in the 9-handed final table.

From 42 players to start the day, 36 finished in the money and got paid at least AUD 5,000 for their efforts. The remaining nine players look for a better payout as the champion will take home AUD 217,000 and the poker title of one of the most prestigious tournaments in Australia and Asia. A total of 306 entries joined the tournament.

2013 APPT Melbourne Main Event - Final Table Chips Count
 1. Ashley Mason (United Kingdom) - 2,299,000
2. David Yan (New Zealand) - 1,692,000
3. Bowdy Tolhopf (Australia) - 1,645,000
4. Ravindran Maravar (Australia) - 1,180,000
5. Robert Damelian (Australia) - 989,000
6. Phi Luu (Australia) - 558,000
7. Joe Cabret (Australia) - 501,000
8. Billy Argyros (Australia) - 226,000
9. Jazz Mathers (Australia) - 146,000

Source: http://www.appt.com/

The 24-year old Mason actually moved to Perth, Australia roughly two years ago. His most notable win as a poker pro is taking down first place in the 2011 World Championship of Online Poker High Roller Event worth US$430,000. The British will start the final day as the chip-leader with over 2.2M in chips.

Running second is 20-year old Davin Yan from Auckland, New Zealand. Yan finished 6th in the 2013 Aussie Millions and is ranked 8th among the highest earning pros from N.Z.

Meanwhile, the highest-ranked Australian—3rd overall in the chip counts, is Bowdy Tolhopf, who is a 23-year old chef out of Wollongong, New South Wales.